Youth Leaders Rule

This morning, new young faces took over the leadership of Ashkelon. As part of "Youth Month" in the city, today the youth leadership had a taste of being in charge of the City. They attended meetings, were interviewed, visited locations in the city with the Mayor, answered the phone and drank a lot of coffee.

Asaf Suissa (above), chairman of the Youth Council, sat in Mayor Roni Mehatzri's chair and ran the city. Standing next to the Mayor is Liron Menashe (last year's Youth Council chairwoman), who will be our Young Shalicha to Baltimore in September 2008, together with Tal Bouhnik.

Tal Bouhnik (left) and Yuval Peretz, took over from Deputy Mayor Levi Shafran. They took their job seriously and dealt with educational issues, under Levi's instruction.Tal will be joining Liron as our Young Shlichim to Baltimore.

Bar Chaprak (right) and Shir Ariely sat in Anat Berkovich's (the municipal spokesperson) - chair , and issued a press release about events of the day.

Teens also replaced the City Manager, the other deputy mayors and department heads. After 4 hectic hours on the job, they were all very happy to go back to school... "It's not easy to run a city!"

Nicole

This Week In Park Baltimore (The Michael Lapidus Park)

I was in the Michael Lapidus Park (Baltimore Park) twice this week. The park is looking wonderful, the grass is green and growing well, all the plants are flowering, the trees are starting to give a little shade. The park is always full of children running, climbing, playing on the equipment in the Lyn Stacie Getz Playground, riding bicycles on the paths, flying kites, playing ballgames and generally enjoying our beautiful park.

I hope everyone from Baltimore who took part in the Communal Build Day on 26th December 2007 will one day have a chance to visit and see the park again, a beautiful green space providing a wonderful environment for Ashkelonians to relax and enjoy themselves with their children. The Michael Lapidus Park, with the wonderful Lyn Stacie Getz Playground, is a real asset to Ashkelon!

Lyn Stacie Getz Playground

New Fire Truck for Ashkelon

On Independence Day Eve, the Ashkelon Fire Station held a special ceremony to welcome the new firefighting vehicle. The vehicle was donated in memory of Michael Lapides, by the Jewish community in Baltimore in a fundraising effort spearheaded by Tammy and Fred Heyman. The brand new fire engine is a “Rotem” vehicle and will be used to respond to emergencies, fires and rescues. At the ceremony, Mayor Roni Mehatzri - Head of the Fireman’s Union, and Dani Sasson – Fire Chief, awarded ranks to fireman and officers. Among those who received promotions were two female firefighters. The Mayor thanked the Jewish Community of Baltimore and the ceremony concluded with a “Haramat Kosit” (toast) in honor of the 60th Independence Day anniversary of the State of Israel. Nicole

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Grad Hits Hutzot ShoppingMall

Wed 14th May. It was almost 18:00. We were with the Diller delegation teens at a meeting in the municipality building. The Grad rocket fell on Hutzot shopping mall, about 4 km away, at peak shopping hour. The teens started to get calls from their parents. I tried to call to check on my kids but the phone lines were down. So we sent the teens home , and I flew home, to find my kids calm. The fact that there was no siren helped ...

There was no siren this time so people didn't have any warning. Two days ago there was a warning siren but the two grad missiles fell while the siren was still going, so it probably wouldn't have made much difference. This grad missile fell on the third floor of the Hutzot shopping mall where there are offices and clinics. It hit a medical clinic and 4 people, including a mother and a baby were seriously injured . There were many others injured, including children.

This is the mall on the right of the main road, as you enter Ashkelon through the main entrance, Sderot Ben Gurion. It is opposite the firestation. There was a lot of damage but luckily the grad hit a corner of the mall and not the center because the mall was crowded and it could easily have been worse.

Shocking pictures from the site of the missile attack, from "the Israel Project" :'

http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/c.hsJPK0PIJpH/b.4129617/

Monday Morning Wake-Up

What a wake up ! This morning, I got unexpected "help" waking the kids ... I made my first round of wake-up calls, no one moved, I usually give them a few more minutes and wake them up again . But... at 7:01 a loud siren was heard.

I ran upstairs. I found my 6 yr old Gily, after a week of memorial day sirens - standing smartly to attention, in her pyjamas, just like in a memorial service. I grabbed her hand, Ron joined us, and so did Shir - who usually hears nothing. We stood together under the staircase, which we think is our safe area in the house. Before the siren had finished, we heard a boom in the distance, followed by a second one that sounded closer. We hugged each other.

Anat, our municipal spokesperson, and my good friend and neighbor, called a few minutes later to tell us that one rocket fell south of the city in the National Park, the 2nd fell in the backyard of a house near Shapira community center, very near a school. Once again we were lucky. No casualties, only light damage.

Note: Over the weekend, about 25 rockets fell in the south. Some landed very near where my husband works. Jimmy Kdoshim was killed on Kibbutz Kfar Aza while working in his garden, he was a 48 yr old father of 3 who was a champion motorized parachutist. They do not have a rocket alert siren on Kfar Azza.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3541468,00.html

Yom HaAtzmaut

Israel's 60th Independance Day Anniversary was full of celebrations, and a time for family to enjoy a day together. In the evening, we watched the torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl on Mt Herzl, and then went outside to enjoy a spectacular display of fireworks.

Next day we were treated to a "fly-by" of the Israeli airforce. We saw formations of fighter planes, a plane being fueled in mid-air by helicopters, acrobatics, very impressive. During the day there was a also a "sail by" by Israel's navy, and an impressive display by paratroopers from all over the world who came here to join the Israeli paratroopers jumping in formations, a "Freedom Jump" - in honor of Israel's 60th birthday.

As always, every piece of grass in the city was used by a family having a traditional "mangal" barbecue. Some families who live in apartments were so desperate for their mangal that they set up their picnic on the grassy island in the middle of the road (I wish I had taken a photo for you).

Happy 60th Birthday to all of us!

http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/2008n/05/0901.htm

http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-5341,00.html

Nicole

Memorial Day

Last night we heard the eerie sound of the siren, but not for kassams this time, but in memory.

Before we can celebrate 60 years of Independance, we remember our fallen. All over the country there are ceremonies as the whole country mourns. There is hardly a family who has not been affected or does not know someone who has been killed.

Last night I attended the official Ashkelon ceremony, along with everyone from the Municipality and many Ashkelon residents. At 8:00 p.m. there was a siren, the country ground to a standstill for 2 minutes, as we all stood to remember. The photos of our lost young soldiers were projected on to a screen as we heard some of the stories.

This morning at 11:00 am there is another countrywide siren and I will attend the official ceremony at the Ashkelon Art school, which is always a sad but impressive event. Over all the years, the official figure of Israeli soldiers killed stands at 22,437. This does not count civilians. This year alone, 65 soldiers were killed.

One of these was our own Liron Banai from Ashkelon, killed about two months ago. He was a fighter in the elite Givati combat unit. He was only 20 years old. He was mortally wounded when his jeep went over a mine at Kissufim, and he died of his injuries in hospital. He left behind a sister, a young brother and two parents who are deaf and for whom he was the spokesman. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Memorial/2008/Victims/Liran+Banai.htm

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Ashkelon Wall Mural

Rachelle Pinhasov from Ashkelon, participated in our Diller/JVC teen exchange with Baltimore last year.

She is a member of LEAD , an NGO that develops young leadership in Israel. She is in 12th grade .

She started an empowerment group for young girls , age 14-15 who live in the Neve Haro'e children's foster home village in Ashkelon.

Rachelle's group is called "Kohevet Hatzafon" ("The (she) star of the north" ).

The highlight of this year's project was a mural painted on the outside wall of the soccer stadium .

Rachelle raised funds through the women of "Lions of Judah " and the municipality . The girls designed and painted the mural last week.

Rachelle wrote a press release and she invited Ashkelon Mayor Roni Mehatzri to unveil the mural. The mural shows the story of a young girl, how she has a baby as an unmarried mother, raises her baby and makes a success of her life.

It was a beautiful ceremony and heartwarming to see her and the girls, so proud of their work.

All time Best Israeli SONG

The city of Ashkelon hosted the national ceremony to choose the favorite Israeli song of 60 years .

The program was live broadcast on TV on channel 1, a lot of famous singers sang the 12 songs that were selected to be the nominees. People in different cities rated the songs, and people sent text messages to vote.

Guess which is THE BEST ISRAELI SONG ever ?: "Yerushalaim shel Zahav" - Jerusalem of Gold.

It was an enjoyable evening of songs and music, that helped us forget other things .

To hear the unforgettable Ofra Haza singing Yerushalaim shel Zahav:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlIJOAZ1pak